Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Interviews of the Week on 104.3 The Score: March 2-6

Episode Date: March 7, 2026

In Interviews of the Week on 104.3 The Score, Score football analyst Dave Wannstedt joined the Spiegel & Holmes Show to react to the Bears trading receiver DJ Moore and a fifth-round pick to the Bills for a second-round pick; Hall of Fame offensive tackle Joe Thomas joined the Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show to discuss Bears center Drew Dalman's surprising retirement; and Tribune reporter Brad Biggs joined the Mully & Haugh Show to discuss what comes next for the Bears after their busy week of moves cleared a fair deal of salary cap space.

in Odyssey Sports Station. You see light mango? Dave Wanstead. Five o'clock. Someone write that down for Alex so he has it, okay? Tannie, you write that down for Alex so he knows. NFL head coach for 11 years. The Bears came in here and Dave Wanstead.

There's a happy group of overachievers that have been well coach. College football national champion. Dave Wanstead, one of my, you know, really idols. Super Bowl champion. Was Ricky Williams, you know, he was over an inch. India paying $7 a day to live in a tent or something he told me. You know, I mean, so I was definitely trying to get him back. I mean, God, are you kidding me?

I said, Ricky, are you kidding me? Coach, it's great over here, you know. Oh, boy. So that, uh, we need, what was he doing? What was he doing over there in India? Smoking a lot of, smoking a lot of marijuana, I promise you're that. hurricane before I go insane. It's only half past 12, but I don't care.

He don't care. He don't care. I don't care. When Miami wants to fight, fine. We'll meet him in the alley. And if they do, you say Jimmy Johnson's asked for me. It's five o'clock somewhere. I'm I supposed to follow that up?

It is five o'clock somewhere. that somewhere is San Juan Puerto Rico has been too long since I've been to San Juan. What a lovely place. Dave Wanssted wanted to get in and talk some bears with us and Tanny, of course, throwing

a little Lou Holtz in there. Boy, that is cold, you know? Unbelievable. Right? Guy, you make yourself available to us, coach, which is beautiful so we can talk about DJ Moore and the Bears

situation and Tanny ambushes you with Lou Holtz threatening to kick all your asses from Catholics versus convicts. What the hell? Well, that really wasn't going to happen, but, you know, I was just God, you know, the guy just passed away. I mean, he's a great

guy, great coach, a friend, you know, it's you know, hopefully he, and I'm sure he did have a great, great life, really, honestly, in all seriousness. Tanny, all seriousness, okay? Yeah. Tanny. Be serious.

serious. He's serious now. All right, then let's get serious. Coach, the Bears have agreed to a trade with the Buffalo Bills. The Bears are going to get a second round pick this year. It's number 60 overall. The bills, when the league year starts, are going to get DJ Moore pending a physical and a fifth round pick. So what's your initial reaction to it? Well, initially, I think as most of the league, everybody's saying, well, wow, this is their best experienced, a la la receiver. But, you know, I said this on the show there in October.

I thought that DJ Moore would have had the possibility of being traded before the trade deadline during the middle of the season. And, you know, when you trade a player, and this is a heck of a deal by Ryan Poles, because any player can be traded. But the key is, what are you going to get in return? Are you getting real value back for what he's? worth. And to get a second round pick, and I know

they've got to give up a fifth or something, but you're getting a second round pick. You are getting a starter. Okay, so you're trading a starter away, and you're getting one. And I think that Ben Johnson has proven that

he will throw the ball to the open guy. You know, I mean, all you can do is look at last year with, you know, with Colson being our top receiver, the confidence that we had in him and then obviously Luther Burtain there was no hesitation about him and throwing the ball

how about Walker we were all scrambling when he catches that touchdown pass to beat the Packers we were all reaching for our depth chart to find out who the guy was so the point that I'm making is that this is not a coaching staff or a head coach that says I'm only going to throw the ball to my

pro bowl receiver and we're going to move him around and we're going to force feed him the ball. That's not the philosophy here. So I really like it, you know, and whether they take it through. And I was looking through my list because I'm coming up there to do some draft shows

here in a month or so. And I was looking through my Big Ten stuff. I'm going to do some Big Ten when I'm in Chicago. And, you know, I've got possibly five receivers just out of the Big Ten conference, possibly first-round draft picks. I throw that out because, if you really wanted a receiver, there's going to be some of these guys that fall.

And other ones around the country, there's going to be some quality, quality receiver depth in that second round. You know, I wouldn't take one in the second round. Personally, I think it's offensive line. I think it was offensive line in my mind even before Dalmer retired. But even more so now, or defensive line. If there's a dominating pass ratcher or a dominating tackle, I'd take him. But it really gives you an opportunity to get us another starter. And that's what we've got to keep our focus on.

Boy, there's a ton of great stuff in that answer from Dave Wonstead here on the Spiegel and Holmes show. First of all, every year in the draft, it's a great year for wide receivers. This is just the case now because there's so many good ones. It's so deep. and you're right, they'll draft one somewhere and he'll be cheap. But the point you made about the egalitarian nature of the offense, Ben just wants to throw to the open guy. And that's what Caleb is being trained to do as well.

Just find the open guy. Whoever it is, see, you can't necessarily have a $26 million guy there. So it's like, so the bears are not a team where the prototypical number one big money, big guy makes that much sense, right? So, so. Absolutely. So who's the leading receiver on this team next year? Who knows?

Tight end. Yeah, I mean, this year was a tight end, this year, you know? But they might draft another tight end. I don't know how they feel about their third and 14 guys, but, you know, that's a style of offense we're going to run. So, yeah, you just don't know. And I missed a couple guys. Who's the one kid, the receiver? I don't have the death chart in front of me.

Oh, Lamede Zakeas. Zakeas? Zakeas caught a lot of big plays. But he's a free agent. He's a free agent, too, coach. Devin Devin Devin, Devin, Devin, Duverne. Duverne, the return guy. He made some place.

I mean, it was crazy. But so it just reinforces the point that, hey, we're going to get a guy, whether it's a veteran guy that comes in on a one-year deal like Seiz did or whether we draft a guy down the road. You know, we're going to have a guy in there that, that they like them, they're going to throw them the ball. Coach, since you brought it up, let's talk about those receivers that you like. Are we talking about Omar Cooper?

Are we talking about Lemon, the kid from USC? Who are the Big Ten wide receivers that you like? Yeah, I mean, everybody I'm talking to starts the list with Tate from Ohio State. Just because he is not the fastest, but he is the best route runner. They think he's the most polished of all the receivers coming out. I mean, again, this is a little bit early. And then you're right. The Lemon kid from USC is a guy, Boston from Washington.

Denzel Boston. They got him in the first round. You talked about Cooper from Indiana going in the first round. So, yes, to answer your question, I mean, that's four, possibly five guys before we even get into the second round. You made a great point also about the trade value. I'm with you to come out of this with a second round pick. And I know it's a low two because Buffalo had a pretty good year. 60.

So number 60 overall. But still, to come out of here with that, there must have been competition for DJ Moore, don't you think? There must have been a few teams. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, to end up with this. And then Joe Brady, like this might work out really well for DJ Moore in Buffalo with Joe Brady, who we had very good years with in Carolina. It's fit matters.

Context matters so much in the NFL. And if DJ has a great year, should Bears fans be freaking out if DJ has a great year in Buffalo? No. I mean, you know, you're George Allen's a quarterback. So you're going to get some, you're going to get your share of passes. We know that.

And good passes. You know, I mean, it's going to give them an opportunity to make some plays. But no, I don't. to me that's not even consideration. You know, I mean, it's time for Rome to step up. I mean, we keep saying he was Caleb's favorite guy and top receiver. What's your third year? This is your year.

So he needs to come up and play big this year. And Byrd needs to take a step forward. And Loveland and, you know, some of these other guys will get better. So like I said, there's only one football, right? There's only one football. And we're going to run it. We've proven this year that we're not going to, we have 50 passes a game offense.

We're going to be balanced. You know, it's going to be 30, 35 passes a game throwing a football. So I like it. I like it a lot. And with the need at offensive line, you know, even before Dalmer retired, I said at offensive line, offensive tackle was a need. And let me just tell you why. I've been talking on so many different shows.

I don't want to be repeating myself. but, you know, a lot, there's been talking to the NFL that the tackle position is not as important as it was back in the day. Because teams aren't running it and play action pass under center. Now they're in the shotgun, snap the ball, quarterback, the ball comes out, right? So you don't have to protect the backside of the quarterback that's turning his back, play action pass, and you've got a chance to hit him where he can't see it coming. That's why the left tackle for years

was premium, premium, premium, on every team, okay, of the right-handed quarterbacks. Well, with that being said, we all know the Bears' offense. What are they doing? They're running the ball, play action. Play action, play action. So I think the left tackle position

in the Bears scheme is a little more valuable than a lot of teams because of the scheme we use. So that's number one. Number two, you remember when Mike Giddings, I brought this up, last show, I think, last time we talked, Giddings on his pro evaluations, pro scowlety evaluations, he said that the number one position on the offensive line, rating-wise, the last 10 years, the highest position, Super Bowl teams,

had was offensive center. And you had to have a center that could play at a blue level. We had one that could play at a blue level and did play at a blue level. And now he's retired. So now, you know, I mean, I was looking at that today.

There's some guys out there, but I don't know. I mean, everybody's talking about the kid from Baltimore, Linda Mom, you know, but he's going to be big money. You know, he's like one of the top five overall free agents. You know, Ryan Bates is name. I heard people talking to me about, what

about Ryan Bakes? You know, there's some people, you know, who's our guy who was brought in as a center and guard, you know, you got the, the maize guy at Carolina, everybody's hot on him. Oh, he's a four-year center. But he's 6-6. I don't think he's

the athlete. If you want a center that can move, I don't know if he's the guy. He's a good player. Good player. But, you know, it's 6-6, those offensive centers, you know, I don't know. Then, you know, McGovern. I mean, there's a guy out there, the guy at Washington, but he didn't play that good last year. Wow.

So we're going to take a step back, I think, at center a little bit. But, you know, no one's fault, whether it's a drop picker or a free agent, just because I think we had a real good young one. And, you know, those guys are just tough to replace like that. That's the reality. Coach, midseason, you said to us, guys, pay attention because the guy with the best hands on this team is playing tight-in. Colston Loveland.

So knowing that, knowing that he, we saw his target shoot up in the last four weeks of the season and in the playoffs for sure. I'm curious on how can they continue to keep him effective and what will defenses do to try to take him away? Like granted, they still have much more stuff that they can do between now and the start of the season. But if you're a defensive coordinator and go, hey, that guy is a problem and he's a matchup problem for us. Can you treat a tight-in like you would an old-school number one X-wide receiver?

Yes, absolutely. When I was at the Dolphins and we were playing the Patriots, they had Aaron Hernandez, who was a type of player like Leiblin from the standpoint of athletic, more of a receiver than a tight-in. And they had Gronk, Gronkowski, who, you know, was a receiver, but he was a giant. He was a block or two and they would they would put pressure on you to answer your question Lawrence a minute you they lined up in line in tight and you had your linebackers in there and all of a sudden both of them moved out to the slot receiver position or wider outside and now you got a linebacker trying to cover one of those guys you got a linebacker trying to cover uh loveland the team's in trouble.

So you want to put your defensive back on them. Well, guess what? You put your defensive back on them. Now you bring them in tight and you run the ball with that defensive back. So you got an advantage either way. And that's right in Ben's Wheelhouse. That's what he loves to do.

Move tight ends around, get mismatches. And Loveland's just going to get better. I mean, that's not what they did with him this year. People underestimate how good this kid was. I mean, he's he's moving. He's lined up in the slot. He's lined up in line. He's play action passes. It's movement passes. I mean, that's a lot to learn for a rookie. And I tell you, I thought the guy did a fantastic job. And you know how much better he's going to be next year? So, you know, in a situation like that, what do you do? You just take the next step with the guy.

Man. Which they will do. Dave gets a lot there to work with. It really is. Dave, Dennis Allen has some dudes who he used to work with who are available, perhaps. DiMario Davis is a linebacker that Lawrence brought up when we talked linebackers last week. Sheldon Rankin's is available. Just came out that Cam Jordan is likely to become a free agent after 15 years in New Orleans. David On Yamada is another one. I mean, you obviously have this experience as a defensive coordinator.

Do you think Dennis Allen wants some of his former guys? And if they're old, but they can still play, should the bears go get them? I think on those guys that you mentioned, I think you wait, wait it out into close to training camp and see who's available for maybe a one-year contract and you do it then. I mean, the linebacker position, number one, what did we prove last year? I can't even name the young guys that we were playing with at the linebacker, three new guys, and those guys played their tails off. I think that was probably an eye-opener to Ryan Poles and Ben and everybody that said,

wow, you know, this is not Terrell Edmonds and this is not Edwards. These guys haven't played, and they were practice squad and Bonsoran guys, and they're playing their tails off. So I think that they're going to look, you know, maybe draft down the road. Do you need another young one? I think you're going to look at the guys we have. And then with these veteran guys, at least me, and I never, you know, you know, Zach Thomas was the only linebacker that I had that we spent a lot of money on

just because he was a three-down linebacker. He could cover and his leadership and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, on and on. But the linebacker is not a position. that me personally that I would overpay to get. Coach, as always, we appreciate it, and thank you for picking up the phone today, man. You know what? I was available.

What can I say? I mean, it's exciting when the Bears dominate the news cycle in the first week of March, isn't it? It's exciting. Is it? You know what this shirt is? This is a golf shirt. You guys, do you know what a golf shirt is?

Yeah, you wear it when you're doing interviews. That's what you wear. I don't wear this around the house. So, no, but it worked out good here this afternoon, and I'm always willing to jump on with you guys. And, yeah, we'll see. Who knows what's coming tomorrow. Hold on.

Yep. We might have to call you back again tomorrow, Coach, or something happens, you know. Good luck tomorrow. Tomorrow I am not available tomorrow. I'm just giving a headset. Noted. Noted. I'm going to call that as...

Didn't mean to bother you. Okay, didn't mean the body. Never a bother. That is Coach Waddenstead. That's a Zoom shirt. It's not a golf shirt. That is a Zoom or Twitch shirt is what that bet is wearing. Crazy.

If you know a veteran, you should nominate a vet to be honored during every Cubs broadcast at thescoreChicago.com. Sponsored by Jeff Bys Your House.com. Veteran led and trusted since 2007. And we're giving away a pair of tickets to the Guess Who with Don Felder at the Huntington Bank Pavilion on June 30th, 2026. That's right. Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are reuniting on stage as the guess who for the first time in 23 years. No sugar tonight in your coffee on their upcoming, taking it back, North American tour.

When we do the giveaway, make sure that you are caller number six to 312-4-0-0670. Who's Domer? When we come back, we wanted to... I'll say what. if they had Jeffrey Dahmer at safety, that changes the makeup of your offensive line. It changes the possibilities because you got, you got D-Tackles running, screaming from the snap at that point,

don't you think? I mean, he did have a profile, right? So if you weren't the profile, I don't know if you were in any real danger, but if you were the profile, you were in a lot of danger. He's a little skinny, probably not a great run fitter. Yeah. It's true.

And to Lawrence's point, not many guys who fit the Dahmer profile play in the NFL. And our kicker is a serial killer. Not the kicker. So that's where he should play. Yeah, he should be a kicker. Let's go to our score hotline. He also joins us on Twitch. Twitch.tv slash the score Chicago.

The Hall of Famer, the 10-year offensive linemen for the Cleveland Browns, six-time first team, all-pro, 10-time. Pro Bowl, part of the all-decade team. The accolades go on and on. Joe Thomas, thank you for joining us today. Hey, thanks for having me on, guys. Well, thank you. And I think you're a perfect person to talk to

when it came to just this sudden announcement of the retirement of Drew Dalman. I said this just a couple minutes ago to my co-host, Mark, Joe, that for all the understanding of football we do, for all the research, I think until you've ever played NFL football as a lineman, we can't fully grasp, even with description, how hard it is on your body day in and day out.

How would you do that for us if you could? It's a beating. I mean, I retired after 11 years. I didn't miss a single play until my 11th season, but that was all she wrote because by the time I'd finished 10 and a half years in the NFL, I was sliding down the stairs on my butt because I couldn't walk after games. My knees hurt so bad. They were so swollen.

I was getting injections. every week and getting my knee drained. And it's a beating, even if you're not getting the big injuries, which I was able to avoid for 10 and a half years and I didn't miss any time. You're still accumulating wear and tear and beatings on the body and the mind. And it beats you down. And really, like, mentally I was in probably a worse space than I was physically by the end of my career. Because dealing with all the rehab and the wondering if you're going to be healthy enough to play on the weekend

end and trying to make up for lost practice time because you're injured, it wears on you because it's a stressful game as it is when you're a young player, not to mention when you get old and you're trying to deal with, can my body keep up with these young bucks? Oh, and by the way, I'm older and I'm dealing with some injuries. I'm dealing with some inadequacies because my body just isn't the way it used to be. So I totally understand it's hard for people to really wrap their minds around a guy who's so young in his 20s just signed with the Chicago Bears to retire, but everybody's body ages differently. And it's hard to know what that beating was unless you're actually living inside of that person.

So what is your first reaction then when you hear, you see the news that Drew Dalman, as you just pointed out, 27. I mean, and you mentioned it. You play 10 plus years in this league. He's younger. Three years, $42 million. First reaction when you read that. I was surprised. I mean, it is very young, especially when you, are just signing with a new team like he did last year with the Bears. You would expect that like if a guy's going to retire, you're going to hear some whispers about, you know, he's thinking about it.

He's dealing well off-season surgeries and he's struggling to come back. But really, it was all quiet on that front. I think it probably surprised the Bears almost as much as anybody. So it was definitely a shock. And Joe, I think you were probably the last generation of kids who grew up playing football without the concussion settlement that it happened with the NFL. I think that had come out probably when you were actually in your NFL career at that point. And I do think there was a wave of parents, you know, who said they were going to do things differently

when it came to having their kids play like Pop Warner, for example, or playing high school football a little bit differently. I can understand why that would be top of mind for any NFL player, just the danger of what this game can do to your brain. day in and day out, knowing that earlier in their career and having that understanding for so long, what do you think? Yeah, it's definitely something that guys think about. One of my good friends from Wisconsin, Chris Borland, he played one year, had an amazing season

with the San Francisco 49ers as a linebacker, and he decided to walk away because he didn't feel like it was worth risking the health of his brain and possible long-term repercussions of the daily beatings that you take when you're a line. when you're a linebacker, when you're one of those positions that as a requirement of your job, you are smashing your skull against another human being 60, 70 times during practice, not just on the games. And so it's something that you definitely consider. I think they've done a great job of making the game safer.

But when you're thinking about the brain, you only get one of them. Last time I checked, they're not doing brain replacements. And I think that's something that people have to think about. And I think the reason you maybe see it a little bit more now with guys retiring early versus we didn't see it as much a while ago is they're making a lot more money. So a guy like Doug or some of these other guys who retired early, in four or five years, they're making what NFL players 10, 15 years ago would have taken 20 years to make. So it's a little bit easier decision when you've already feel like you've got yourself

set up for life. And at that point, you're just playing for the love of the game. I think that cost-benefit analysis changes a little bit when you're not doing it because you have to pay those bills like guys that were playing 20, 30 years ago had to consider. And obviously, Joe, everybody cares about the person. We're being careful to some degree, too, because we don't know the why here of Drew Dolman. I'm sure the bears know more than we know.

But the other part is, is the reality the bears no longer have a Pro Bowl center who it sure looked to us like was hugely important to the Bears this year. what kind of a loss is Drew Dalman from what you saw watching the Bears? Well, I think it's a huge loss because Drew was the center of that offensive line. And when you've got a young quarterback who's learning a new system like Caleb, who's coming into his own, had a really good year last season, like that is the guy you lean on. He is the translator between quarterback and the rest of the offensive lineman.

And so that position is something that the quarterback leans on. And that's something that the guards and the tackles lean on. because Drew is that guy who translates Chinese that may be coming out of the quarterback's mouth to English that the offensive linemen are speaking. When that defense moves and they ship from a four down to a three down, they drive safeties down, they rock safeties back, they change where those linebackers are. There's constant communication that has to happen. And it has to happen in a split second. And so for Drew at center, he needs to know what Caleb is thinking. He's in every single meeting with the quarterbacks when they're talking about protections.

They have their own meetings a couple times a week. so that they can get on the same page because a lot of times your quarterback is looking at the secondary and he's looking at the coverage and it's the center that's looking at the protection. And so at some point during the play, the quarterback's not looking at that protection anymore and he's trusting the center to be able to make any adjustments or changes to protect him and his well-being and safety. And so that trust is not something that you just sign up for. That's something that's built during training camp.

It's built during the battles that you go through on. Sundays. And it's not a position that's easy to replace. It's one of those positions. If you don't know anything about it, it's usually a good thing. If you start hearing about it, you know there's a problem. And that is something that only time can fix when you're talking about that quarterback center relationship. Oh, that's so true. We are talking to the Hall of Famer Joe Thomas here in Rahimi Harrison Grotie, the All-Pro, many-time All-Pro, all-decade, Brown's offensive tackle for many years. And he joins us on Twitch, twitch.tv, slash the score Chicago from your shop where I see you have like a million point antlers behind you, by the way.

That's some nice work out of you. So that's a treat for everybody watching on Twitch. And I also want to ask you this, Joe, having done this for as long as you have, having been an analyst of the game the way you are, oh, we get the, oh my goodness, look at the multi-point box over there. Okay, so as we admire the taxidermy of Joe Thomas's shop. Yeah, absolutely. So I do want to. want to ask you this because you are somebody who I think brought a lot of like modern stats to the conversation when it came to how to measure, you know, offensive line efficiency and things like that. If you were a general manager and you were looking for a center, what would

be the qualities you would look for first? I think the first quality you got to have in any center is they got to be really smart. Because as I mentioned before, they need to be the guy that translates and that the quarterback trusts. He is the voice for the offensive line. He's the guy that makes sure everybody's on the same page. And it's something that's not the hardest responsibility of an offensive lineman, but it might be the most important. And so you've got to find somebody who's very smart, especially running a complex system like the Bears do.

They're going to be changing not only protections before the snap comes, but a lot of run blocking assignments because they're running pinpole. If they're running some of the outside zone concepts, play actions, they have to count for nine guys out there, right? If a safety comes down to the strong side, now they have to count him and to be able to have a blocker for that player. And so those are all things that are really challenging. They have to happen very quickly.

And that's the first thing that I want out of any of my centers. And then the second thing is I need to have a good athlete, a guy that can get out and run. He can reach a noseguard if they're running zones. You can get out and pull if they're run pinpoles and crack G type concepts. He's got to be able to run. You get a lot of help when you're in the center, which is the nice thing. You got a guard on either side of you.

So in pass protection, you're rarely in a one-on-one matchup. But you need to be able to run. You need to be able to find linebackers and safeties in space and block them, especially in the bear system, which is always going to rely heavily on a really, really strong ground game. All of that said about the center, Joe, you may or may not know the Bears do have an opening at left tackle right now as well. which position center or left tackle for the Bears and Caleb Williams is more important right now.

More resources should be used at. I would say you're going to want to use more resources on tackle because it requires a lot more draft capital or dollars in the salary cap to pay a quality tackle. And if you can't block the edges in pass protection, it doesn't matter if you've got all the guys assigned to the right protection. you're not going to be able to be very efficient and very effective protecting for your quarterback. So tackle is still the hardest thing to get and it's still something you want to spend your most money on. Says the tackle, a likely story.

We'll buy us. Joe, thank you so much for joining us. And you can check out Hall of Fame Beef by Joe Thomas. Yeah. And this is a pretty impressive list of what you got here, Joe. 100% full-blood Wagyu, F-1 American Wagyu and Premium Angus Beef proudly raised in Wisconsin's driftless region by Pro Football Hall of Fame or Joe Thomas.

You can visit Hall of Famebeef.com. Joe, I have to admit, I didn't know about the driftless region of Wisconsin. You should come visit. It's beautiful. It's not quite like the Rocky Mountains, but it's absolutely gorgeous. The last glacier period didn't come through here. So we got amazing trout streams. We got unbelievable wildlife.

We got beautiful bluffs and hills. It's a great place to vacation. That's why I first got here. And then it's also a great place to raise some of the healthiest, highest quality beef on planet Earth. You mentioned the Wagyu. We're selling all those steaks, all those cuts, beef jerky, Hall of Fame beef sticks, summer sausage, hot dogs, cheddar worst, brats, you name it, anything of beef cow has. We can provide it at Hall of Fame beef.com. Cheddar worst.

Fantastic. That sounds good, man. Cheddar worst is off the chain. My kids won't even look at a regular hot dog anymore. And I've got something else to do, which is check that out. This has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you so much for joining us. Hey, thanks for having me on guys. Anytime.

Thanks, Joe. That's Joe Thomas, Hall of Famebeef.com for all of that. And I learned a geography lesson today. I've been meaning to ski in Wisconsin. I was a stupid head and started skiing in Colorado. Same. To this day, I don't think I could ski because I started. I went from Colorado to Utah, which is another.

Utah is tricky. The snow can get icy. We've got to go up to this driftless region. There's no drift. No drifts whatsoever. We got to check it out. What does that mean? Driffless region.

That's the thing. That's why I want to look this up. Okay. Curiosity is good. All right. Thanks again to Joe Thomas for joining us. We're going to do more on just, I think, listening to what he had to say and kind of absorbing that. So we'll do that together as a team with you next.

With Brand Biggs. Biggs. His name. Brand Biggs talks football with you. And a haul. It is Chicago. 104-3, the score, and who else but our guy Brad Biggs joins us now. He's the football man of the Chicago Tribune, a long-time contributor to the station and a valued friend.

And he joins us now on the Plumbers 911 hotline plumbing emergency call 1833, Plum 9-1-1. Local 130 plumbers get the job done right. the first time shout out to everyone viewing us on CHSN, and many people tune in strictly to see how Biggsie's doing today. Good morning, Brad. How are you, buddy? Morning, Brad. Morning, boys. What's going on? Well, your team, the Chicago Bears, they're at it.

They've pulled off a big trade, got a second round pick in return for a fifth, and DJ Moore to Buffalo. And then in the middle of the night, Tremaine Edmonds was cut, which frees up even more cap space. So the money is there. And as we talked about earlier in the week, let's see who the player or players are

that they wind up with after a move like this. Yeah, because they've got plenty of spots. They've got to fill, right? We've talked about them. They need two starting safeties. They need a linebacker with Edmonds out. Left tackle has been a known issue since the end of the season. And then just this week, at least publicly, the realization that, yeah, they're going to need a center.

You trade DJ more. And the expectation is Luther Burden will be in a lot. line for a significantly larger role. And I think one that he will produce well in, give him an opportunity to really flourish. At the same time, when you talk about the Bears being an 11 personnel with three wide receivers on the field, you're probably looking at 450, 500 snaps of DJ Moore that you now have to replace that's out the door that's gone. So a whole list of needs, focus has been in the trenches, which is a good thing, right?

Left tackle, center, edge. You guys could probably have full phone lines until Monday regarding Max Crosby. Let's talk a little bit about defensive tackle, which is something that isn't as sexy, is certainly not gotten nearly as much attention. I think some people are almost outright ignoring it. They were 27th in the league against the run last year. They've got two defensive tackles under contract right now, Javon Dexter and Grady Jarrett.

Somehow, some way, before the draft, I think they've got to supplement that position. I believe, you know, if they don't get kind of a named player there, it's going to have to be a consideration for a high pick in the draft because they need more depth there on the interior of the defensive line and they need improved production as well. And I realize that steers the conversation, at least briefly away from Max and Tyler Linderbaum,

and whatever else, but just look at the depth chart of guys that are being paid right now for 2026 and think about defensive tackle a little bit. Okay, that's good advice. I think it's an excellent point. We'll get there. Right now, though, I want to know, what was your reaction to the Bears getting a second round pick in the DJ Moore trade? Maybe they use that on a defensive tackle, Brad, or maybe they use that in a different way. But your level of surprise that a two was involved, and what is the best use of that draft?

capital. Yeah, well, I think the, I think the Brian Poles was able to find a team that was somewhat desperate, you know, that bills had not gone about it the right way at the wide receiver room, hoping that Josh Allen would elevate the performance of guys that you're probably putting too much on Josh Allen's plate to ask him to make those guys. look like bona fide stars and so they find a team that had a little bit of desperation and I wouldn't be surprised if the Bears

either had another team involved or let Buffalo to believe another team was involved to get that because that's a really good return for DJ Moore and something the Bears should be able to put to good use.

You talk about what are they going to do with the pick? Well, that's primary to draft yourself a safety primary to draft yourself a linebacker. And those are two positions right there that I think that bears need to, they need to double up. They need to get one in pre-agency, and they need to get one at each of those positions in the draft as well. So those are two spots that would jump out to me. Maybe if there's some future center they really love,

A late two is a spot there. Let's not get carried away and think you're going to find a left tackle. What is it? Pick 60, I think. But there's a lot of different ways they could go with that draft capital. And they're in a good spot when you talk about having four picks inside the top 90. It gives them what should be a lot of options to sort of weigh their board and determine how they want to attack things.

Yeah, we've talked about it a little bit. The big rumor was that the Patriots were interested in making a deal, and maybe that is what got Buffalo excited, especially since DJ's got a connection to Joe Brady. Yeah, and DJ's spot here, too. I know for a fact that DJ was grateful that he's headed to a good situation, right? and he got traded from Carolina, which wasn't a good situation of the Bears.

The Bears didn't look like a good situation at the time, and they weren't. I mean, Fields was the quarterback, and DJ performed with Fields, but I would think this has a chance to really spark DJ from the standpoint that he's playing for a coach that he's got experience with. he's playing with an elite quarterback

and maybe that reinvigorates him a little bit, not that he necessarily needs it, because that's a guy that shows up day in and day out. But I think he could do good things in Buffalo. I'll say this. He has the capacity to play to a level where in retrospect it won't look like an overpaid by Brandon Bean.

So Brad, in strongly advising us not to ignore the defensive tackle position. Are you actively encouraging us to ignore the pursuit of Max Crosby or Tyler Linderbaum for the Bears? Do you think either one of those or both are unrealistic? Do you think that's a fool's errand to keep an eye on that situation and keep refreshing Twitter all day to find out if there's any kind of move? No, I don't. I think the Bears should stay involved on everything, be aware of everything. keep an eye

what's the price? Where is the market at? And I don't know that anybody can answer that clearly at this point. I'm just pointing out that the defensive tackle hasn't gotten a lot of conversation

and I wouldn't be surprised like if that's one among the first couple moves they make when things can get rolling next week. is bringing in a defensive tackle. I'm curious, and I don't have any intel, but what is their evaluation of Jonathan Allen, right? It's going to be, has either already been released by the Vikings

or has been told he will be released by the Vikings. I believe that's a situation where he's got guaranteed money on the books for this season that Minnesota will owe him. So there's an, you know, at least some offset potentially involved there. Listen, does he solve your situation deep into the future? No. Is he a pretty good pro? Yes.

But again, I don't know what their evaluation of Allen is. But I do know they've got to get better there. And then let me throw something else at you here, guys. And this isn't, let me be clear before things get misconstrued. This isn't to be critical of them because they'll fill it out and they'll get it done. It's just more of an observation than anything. Top eight bears defenders in terms of tackles. And to a degree, it's kind of a participation statistic, right, if you're on the field.

at certain spots you're going to pile up the stats. But top eight from this past season, in order. Edmonds, Byrd, Brisker, Nashon Wright, T.J. Edwards, Noah Sewell, Montez Sweat, and C.J. Gardner Johnson. So the three that remained under contractor, T.J. Edwards, coming off a broken fibula. He also had hand surgery last season. Noah Sewell, I don't know that'll play this coming season, torn Achilles, and Montes Sweat. What about C.J. Gardner Johnson?

He's not an agent. Yeah, he's not an under-counter. I think he's coming back, though? He was a bargain for them because of what the Texans had to pay him. He was at the back end of a deal that originally started in Philadelphia that was around $9 million a year. I think he'd have to play for significant. less than that for the bears to have a spot for them.

But that's me sort of taking a guess there. So what are you saying without saying? They don't have any of their tacklers back, is what he's saying. The defenses needs help. Yeah, well, they've got to get two safeties. They've got to get two linebackers. They need help on the defensive line. And I think it starts on the defensive line.

Right. I'm not trying to put safety and linebacker ahead of a more stout defensive line. The market for Kevin Byard, it'll be curious to see what that is. Cam Curl, NFL Network reported this morning, extended by the Rams, what looked like about $12 million a year over three years, $36 million. If Cam Curl's worth 12, what's Bired worth? Granted, Byron is older. If Kevin has teams that are legitimately after him, and the market's a little condensed for older guys, I would think.

But if he's got teams that are after him, I don't know that, I don't think he would be cheap for the Bears to bring back, considering his on-the-ball production last season, which is highly valued. Like, he's a huge reason. they did what they did in terms of takeaways. All right, Brad. So let's just start with the center position,

left tackle, defensive tackle, defensive end. You mentioned safety, linebacker, just prioritize. What would be the first position that you would want them to fill? Or you would fill where you run in the show? Yeah, well, and they've got like they've got, like, They've got flexibility now because just with remain DJ and Dalman, you're looking at, what, $41.5 million in caps space between those three guys right there. So they've got flexibility, maneuverability. I think it's hard to put a concrete list together because you want to be nimble. And polls has talked about that, wanting to remain flexible. So I think that involves monitoring the Max Crosby situation.

where's the market go for Linderbom? Is it in a range where you're comfortable, or does the price get to a point that you're like, you know what? That just doesn't make sense for us. And long ago, you know, would talk to personnel men about paying interior offensive linemen, and the thoughts shifted around the league a little bit since when you see what some of these elite guards get paid, and elite guards are generally considered more valuable than elite centers,

they don't score touchdowns, right? So if this price tag for Linderbom gets around $22 million a year, do you want to, are you comfortable doing that? Is that something you want to do? But you've got to monitor that. I think you've got to look at defensive tackle. And then, in my mind, you're looking at a combination. I think I touched on that earlier, at safety and linebacker.

You want to look for a veteran, and you want to pair them up with a draft pick that you feel good about. It's got to be a draft pick that you feel like, you know what, this guy is going to become a starter in the National Football League. Linebacker, that could be DeMarco Jackson as a veteran who's going to cost you a little bit

of money. You've got to figure out the left tackle situation. What's that going to cost? Who's it going to be? As you're potentially looking at a bridge player there, you have to be bringing in a guy at that left tackle spot that

you're comfortable starting 17 regular season games in 2026 because you simply don't know about the availability of Ozzie Tripillo. So, Brad, this morning earlier, the Chargers signed Tyler Biotish to a three-year $30 million contract. He was at House Hall earlier this week. How do you interpret that? I would have been, I would have hoped that he would have been a fallback plan for the Bears, and that may well be that. that it was just sort of an exploratory fact-finding thing with him. Listen, I was told the move in Washington, he was let go by the commanders, wasn't necessarily cap-related that he didn't have a great season last year,

and the commanders want to get in the more outside zone and run-game stuff that's similar to what the bears are doing. And so if the commanders didn't deem him as a good fit for that, it would have been a curious match for the Bears. There certainly would have been a difference in opinion and evaluation of what the player does well and maybe struggles with. So I don't know that the Chargers took a player off the board that the Bears were intent on pursuing. Brad, who are the two leading receivers next year for the Bears? who leads them in receptions? Leads them in receptions.

I think Rome is probably the lead them in receptions. And then you're looking at a really good, really good race between Loveland and Byrner. I think that, and if those are the top three, I mean, think about it. You've got your draft capital playing out just like you expected it to. And I know some folks have been a little less than thrilled with Rome

since the end of the last season. Remember the first month of the year? He was among the league leaders and touchdowns. I think he had five touchdown catches through the first four games. If memory serves correct. And he was consistently like the leading target guy in that passing game. So I think knowing how he's wired, he's going to commit himself to improvement over the offseason. Luther's maybe a little bit more explosive, but I'd see it Rome lead them in catches.

And then if both guys are healthy, you would hope that it's a really spirited competition between Burton and Loveland for that second spot. Thank you, Bigsy. Appreciate your time, as always. Have a busy good weekend. Have a great weekend, guys. Yeah. Have a busy good weekend? Yeah.

A good, comma, busy weekend. Probably out of order there. Yeah. Good weekend, but it's going to be busy. Okay. I think so. You think there's a lot of bears and it's coming down? Bigsy has a lot of...

I would hope so.